Running Into The Form 1 Printer At Maker Faire

The Form 1 resin printer Kickstarter met its funding goal in just about 8 hours, and after five days is on track to be the most successful Kickstarter to date. Being so successful meant we had to drop by the FormLabs booth at Maker Faire to see what the hubub is.

From the sample prints floating around the booth, the Form 1 printer has amazing resolution – a 3 inch tall statue of a Greek god had as many features as a life-sized statue.

In the video (both above the fold and after the break), [David Cranor] goes over the features and finishing process of objects made on the Form 1.

20 thoughts on “Running Into The Form 1 Printer At Maker Faire”

Nice looking machine. I think it’s highly implausible that they need Kickstarter funds to launch; I think that they’re using it as a marketing platform – Kickstarter gives it massive visibility, and raising $1.3m in 4 days will further guarantee a ton more visibility in the general press. I think the ton of pre-sales and cashflow are just bonuses rather than the core goal of using Kickstarter. Jon Hirschtick was the founder of SolidWorks. I’m sure he could fund it very easily if he wanted to. Also, FormLabs have already have a load (my assumption, no disclosure) of external funding for development. See here: https://angel.co/formlabs#overview

Sure it’s a startup, but it’s portrayed as a bunch of MIT grads goofing around and coming up with a 3D printer, when I think it’s a lot more pro than that with a lot of external help. Is Kickstarter now just another marketing vehicle for businesses that don’t need it, but will benefit from it’s visibility? Does that even matter? Discuss…

I wonder if kisckstarter will start to notice or already do. Do you think they will do anything about it? they are essentially being used for marketing now. These guys did not need to be “kickstarted”. I guess this goes along with the exclusively being a storefront model they are trying to push down everyones throats now (no renders, etc.). Also I don’t think this is all that much affordable. Maybe I just don’t have patience but affordable to me is a $300 machine that comes with at least “starter” cartridges/resin. I don’t want to wait until that day comes. Hurry up people!!! jk. and no I do not have the capabilities to build one myself (I would probably end up with a barn instead of a pool, d’ohith). When do you think that day will come?

Take a look at what laser an inkjet printers were when they first got released. Desktop computers? Laptops? Introduce economies of scale and hardware that has been tested through many many generations. Hewlett Packard will be giving these things away if you buy a computer (or tablet/smartphone), and buy ink/resin/filament from them.

$2-$3k is the early adopter tax. Give it a few years and I think we’l see that drop to sub-$600 for a superior machine. Not sure what resin and filamet prices are going to do, though…

See the entry they recently posted in the FAQ: “The Form 1 can create layers as thin as 25 microns, which is much finer than other desktop machines. Another metric, the minimum feature size is 300 microns, which is limited by the diameter of the laser spot. … The Form 1’s laser, however, has extremely precise movement capabilities in the X/Y plane. For example, the spot is 300 microns, but it can be moved as little as a few microns at a time, allowing for the impressive surface finish.”